Frozen
by Aqua111
Summary: Ruins of an ancient Echidna culture are discovered in the Ice Cap Zone. When the Guardians decide to do some investigations on their own they find the body of a young female under the ice. When they unfreeze her in their base she comes back to life. But also the virus she's carrying inside.
1. Frozen

Author's comment: This is a very old story I have written way back in the year 2005. Back then I still had written everything in German and now after I finally remembered about it again I decided to translate and upload it.

It is thought to be a fusion between the Brotherhood of Haven and Stargate SG1. After watching the Stargate episodes Frozen and Abyss and somehow thought the Brotherhood might have fit in there quite well as well and so I gave it a try and rewrote the two episodes for the Echidnas.

I also have to say it is some sort of alternate timeline since Finitevus who is working together with the Dark Legion makes his appearance while the Guardians are still there and everything on Angel Island is still intact.

Chapter 1: Frozen

Snow ... for three days he hadn't seen more but snow. Even during the night it didn't stop snowing. It was a miracle that they were still able to open the doors of Haven on Ice in the morning.

Spectre wandered through the rooms restlessly. What took Sabre and Locke so long out there? All due respect to their enthusiasm but that was way too much already.

The room where he walked around in circles right now was furnished with a table and a few chairs, nothing more. Haven on Ice was built for functionality, not for comfort. Spectre had given this room the sarcastic name "parliament" because the Guardians only used it to discuss things through and while during these meetings a lot was said their talks barely ever got anyone anywhere. Actually it was like in Haven with the exception that the conference room there had no name.

Where Sojourner and Thunderhawk were at the current moment he didn't know but he had met them about two hours ago on one of the corridors and both were as worried about the two youngest Guardians' absence. At that time it had been dawning, now it was pitch-black night. And that terrible snowstorm raged on.

Several months ago Echidna scientists had found evidence for the remains of an ancient Echidna colony buried under the perpetual ice of the Ice Cap Zone. A base station was built but after further searches remained unsuccessful the project was cancelled.

Locke was called the historian among the Guardians with a good reason. He had decided to continue the work the researchers had begun. Leaving someone alone in a white hell like the Ice Cap Zone was out of question and since the Dark Legion had barely caused any trouble lately, Knuckles was guarding the island und Archimedes could get in contact with them any time if problems occurred they had decided to accompany Locke.

The base which had been three floors high they had called Haven on Ice. At first the Guardians still had wondered why each floor had a gate leading outside but after three days of snowstorm the meaning of it had been explained. Meanwhile the ground floor had become the basement, completely covered by snow, and they had to leave and enter the building through the doors on the first floor.

Spectre still walked through the corridors like a panther in a cage but then only twenty minutes later he finally heard the garage door and the engines of the snowmobiles. He, Sojourner and Thunderhawk hurried to the garage and nearly crashed into the two youngest Guardians who dashed out of the room.

Sabre brought out not more but a stuttered, "We ... we ... unbelievable ... in the ice ... come", turned tail and ran back while Locke shined with delight as if Lara-Le had just asked him for a date.

Since the others hadn't followed immediately Sabre already had begun to demount the trailer off the snowmobile on his own. Spectre stood on the tips of his toes to look over the others' heads but he couldn't see more than an Echidna sized block of ice which Sabre and Locke now tried to push towards the door.

"What's so interesting about a bunch of ice? Open the doors and it will fall right into your arms."

"We don't want to show you the block. Look what's inside of it."

Curiously the others now stepped closer too. Sojourner immediately recoiled, Thunderhawk breathed in sharply and Spectre's eyes widened. Locked inside the ice there was a young female.

"We have found the ruins", Locke broke the silence, "and also further bodies but none of them was in such a good condition as hers. I thought that we can investigate her better inside the base. My first estimation is that she has to be at least two million years, maybe even older."

Sojourner quickly shook his head to recover from the first shock.

"Let's get her to the lab. In there we can unfreeze her better than in a cold garage."

Slowly defrost water dripped on the laboratory floor. Nearly half of the ice was gone and the fur colour and clothes of the female could better be seen. Her fur was of a light brown like nougat. The dark brown coat she wore was held closed by a thick ribbon of the same colour around her waist.

"That's going much too slow", Thunderhawk complained. "At that speed we will still be sitting around that table by tomorrow."

"We can also cut parts off and only let the last few centimetres around her thaw on its own", Locke suggested.

The others watched silently while Locke and Sabre were working on the block.

"Hey, slow down a bit Locke or you'll run the risk to cut an arm off with your pace of work."

Distracted by Sabre's words Locke really cut a bit too deep and scratched over her right arm. Bewildered he made a few steps back and stared at the wound.

"Sabre ... she ... she's bleeding."

Sabre was about to wipe a bit of water from her unfrozen face and stopped in his movement.

"She's doing WHAT?"

He walked round the table to have a closer look at her arm. Also the other Guardians had taken a few steps closer. Carefully Thunderhawk opened one of her eyelids and brought the other hand glowing with Chaos energy closer to her face. He winced when her pupil contracted. Spectre and Sojourner removed the last bit of remaining ice.

"I'm feeling a pulse", Locke holding her wrist said breathlessly. "Her chest ... it's moving ... she started breathing."

Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she threw her head around in panic.

"We frighten her", Sabre said as calm as possible and took a few little steps back. Locke on the other hand sounded more worried. "We have to hold her in place or else she will hurt herself or one of us."

But before anyone of them could react she already had jumped off the table. That the surrounding Echidnas wanted to catch her frightened her even more. She dashed from one to the other until she saw no alternative but to shivering push her back against the furthest corner of the room.

"Do we have any kind of narcotics?" Sabre asked and wanted to look into one of the cupboards but then Spectre held him back at his shoulder and with a silent, "No" he walked pass the other Guardians and carefully closer to the female. He stretched out a hand and with a gentle voice he said, "Have we frightened you? You don't need to be afraid of us. We only wanted to help you. No one wanted to do any harm to you."

Breathlessly the others listened and only exchanged a few quick glances. They never had heard Spectre speaking in such a soft manner.

Slowly the female calmed down again. Her left hand closed around her right upper arm. Spectre remembered that her wound had been at this place.

"Oh, have we hurt you? We're sorry."

"S-sorry?" she asked unsure.

"Yes, sorry", Spectre explained. "That's what we say when we've hurt someone or..." He didn't speak any further because she now had lowered her hand. The wound was gone. At first Spectre stared at her arm then his lips curled into a light smile. "That is impressive."

"Im-pressive?" she echoed.

"Yes, indeed."

"Uhm ... I guess she's hungry after such a long time in the ice", Sojourner was heard. "I will get her something to eat. Something that can be done fast."

When Sojourner came back the other Guardians had retreated so the young female had more calm while getting used to her new surrounding. She was sitting cross legged on the table and gave Sojourner's pizza an unsure look.

"That is good. You can eat that", Sojourner said. To prove it he ripped off a piece of it and put it into his mouth. At first she remained sceptic but then she cautiously took a piece of it as well.

"By the way, I'm Sojourner." He placed his hand at his chest and repeated. "Sojourner, that's my name."

She shortly paused her meal and looked at him.

"Impressive."

"Do you have a name too?"

She nodded slowly, made a thoughtful face and shook her head again.

"So you can't remember it? Hm, what would you say if I find a name for you?"

He looked around while thinking it over. His gaze wandered over the cupboards, the pizza, her arm where a while ago still had been a wound.

Fur as brown as nougat...

"Nougat!"

He had called that word loud enough to make her wince.

"We will call you Nougat. What do you think of that?"

She looked at him.

"Impressive."

Minutes later all Guardians had assembled at the "parliament". Locke stood up while he was talking.

"Nougat, like Sojourner called her, seems to understand our language. Nonetheless her memory has suffered damage of some kind since she can only repeat words one of us has said once. We should examine her further because it would be interesting to know how she managed to stay alive and without suffering greater damage while being frozen for such a long time. Furthermore I want to find out her true age. She could have been existing longer than we had supposed for the whole Echidna kind..."

He interrupted his speech when Sojourner stood up and clung to the table slightly bent forward.

"Sojourner? Are you okay?"

"No ... I mean yes ... I'm just a bit ..." His legs gave in.

Locke ran ahead of the group and opened all the doors in their way, Thunderhawk and Sabre carried the unconscious Sojourner. Spectre followed last and felt pretty unnecessary. He was a fighter, not a scientist or doctor. Lost in worries about Sojourner's well-being he didn't look out where he was running or what or who was in his way. At full speed he crashed into Nougat who had stepped out onto the corridor and looked after the other Guardians. She tried to keep her balance and spun around.

"Sorry!"

Spectre caught her in his arms.

"Oh no, I must be sorry. You have no eyes at your back but actually I should have them in my face..."

Nougat turned around again but the little group had already disappeared.

"What do ... they of you?"

Beside the graveness of the current situation Spectre had to smile a little bit about her choice of words but he became serious again very quickly.

"They are taking Sojourner to the sick bay. He feels, let's say, not too well but we don't know what's wrong with him. Please excuse me; maybe they need me ... even if I'm not the best doctor."

He continued down the corridor and left Nougat behind.

Sojourner had lapsed into some kind of feverish coma. He still reacted to things around him - whenever someone talked to him or touched him he winced - but he didn't wake from his feverish nightmares. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, his fingers dug into the bed sheets and he convulsed his face in pain.

A shocked expression on his face Spectre had stopped in the door frame. Sabre squeezed pass him with a little glass tube in his hand.

"Where have you been? Sojourner reacts hypersensitive to any kind of touch. We nearly had to chain him to the bed just to take a blood sample."

"I ... was hold up."

Sabre just waved his hand.

"It doesn't really matter. Anyways, we have decided that we can't leave Sojourner alone at night. Thunderhawk and I will watch over him today. Locke shall check this blood sample. And I wanted to ask you to keep an eye on Nougat. She isn't dangerous or anything but she isn't familiar with this environment yet. Maybe you should find a bed for her. She can't sleep on the lab table let alone in one of our beds."

With that being said he hurried down the corridor.

A sleeping place for Nougat was found quickly. Beside the sick bay there were still a lot of rooms with beds.

Locke analyzed the blood samples of Sojourner and Nougat. Actually Sabre had planned to help him in further examining the female but Sojourner's seizure had screwed up their plans. He rubbed his eyes and sank back into his chair. It must have been very late at night but he didn't want to give up on his examinations yet.

If Sojourner had something serious they needed to get back to Haven fast. But how? Thanks to the snowstorm they were marooned. The communication systems had stopped working a day after their arrival and transporting an ill person with the snowmobiles was too risky.

Their only option was the teleporter they had activated on their first day in Haven on Ice but it led to Mobius Prime - to Knothole, precisely - and to get from there to Angel Island would take them a lot of precious time.

Locke took care of analysing the structures in his blood samples again. Something in there made him wonder. Certain parts in Sojourner's structure were identical to Nougat's. He shook his head. No, that was probably just a coincidence. Maybe all Echidnas showed these structures. But to be certain he still wanted to analyse the sample of a fit Guardian the next day. His own blood he couldn't take anymore because – thanks to his self-experiments with the Master Emerald in the past – there might have been too many differences to well and healthy Echidnas. Maybe he could ask Sabre but that was something he still could think about tomorrow. Right now he really needed some sleep. He stood up, turned off the desk lamp and left his lab.

Sabre had to fight with tiredness too. He was sitting on a bed close to Sojourner's and repeatedly nodded off.

Sojourner had started tossing and turning in his bed. His fever had risen rapidly and the other Brotherhood members couldn't do more but waiting for Locke's result.

Thunderhawk sitting cross-legged beside Sabre and showing no sign of fatigue yet looked at the younger Echidna.

"You can take a nap if you want to. I'll just wake you up later on should I feel too tired. There's no reason in keeping both of us awake all the time."

Sabre gladly took his advice and sank back.

Over an hour later also Thunderhawk had to fight against tiredness but he tried to keep himself awake as long as possible because he didn't want to wake Sabre up so early already. He tried to focus on Sojourner who still tossed and turned in his bed in feverish dreams but it didn't work. More and more he drifted into sleep.

Complete silence prevailed in the room. It ripped Thunderhawk from his half-sleep and he rushed to the other bed. Sojourner was lying completely still - he didn't breathe anymore.

"Shit!"

The call also woke Sabre with a start.

"Thunderhawk, what...?"

"Don't ask; help me get him from the bed!"

Together they ripped him from the bed - there was no time to treat him more gently. Sabre's gaze dashed through the room.

"Don't we have something like a defibrillator in this freaking place?"

"No but it also wouldn't be of much use. He is already weak enough to kill him with that thing."

Thunderhawk already had started with reanimation while Sabre couldn't do more but look around in the room in a helpless try to find something that could be of use.

Woken from the noise Nougat had silently entered the room. Sabre winced when she suddenly stood at his side.

"What ... are you doing here?"

She looked at Sojourner then back at Sabre.

"He is ... sick?"

Sabre needed a while to collect himself before he could answer.

"Yes, and he's going to die! We can't help him!"

Nougat pointed at herself.

"Help."

"Damn! My son is dying in front of my eyes and you have nothing better to do but jabbering?!" Thunderhawk flared up.

It didn't seem as if Nougat had listened to him. She knelt down close to Sojourner's head and placed her hands on his forehead.

"What is she doing there?! Sabre, get her out or I'll throw her out myself!"

Sabre put a hand on Thunderhawk's shoulder and held him back.

"Wait! I want to see what she's up to."

Nougat had closed her eyes; the expression on her face was tense and concentrated. For a little while there was complete silence then Sojourner suddenly gasped for air like someone who had finally found his way back to the surface after a long time under water. At first he still breathed fast and fitfully but the longer Nougat's hands remained on his forehead the deeper and steadier his breath got.

The other two Guardians stared at her with wide opened eyes.

"That is ... incredible", Sabre whispered.

When Sojourner had calmed down again completely Nougat removed her hands and slowly sank to the side. Sabre caught her.

The night had brought even more snow and the storm raged on. The garage door on the first floor couldn't be opened anymore without risking to get buried under a flood of snow. If the weather didn't get better they soon would have to leave the building through the attic.

Three of the Guardians had come together in the Parliament. Sojourner was still at the sick bay and Locke hadn't woken up yet.

"Sojourner was awake when we left him but he still feels a little dizzy. Nougat feels better again too", Thunderhawk told Spectre.

The dark Guardian had crossed his arms and thoughtfully stared at the table when he said, "We can only hope that no one else gets ill. The healing process is weakening her. We shouldn't demand her help another time."

"We also never planned to do that", Sabre said. "Sojourner's illness was hopefully non-recurring. I will help Locke with his examinations today and maybe we can find out what exactly had been wrong with Sojourner."

That moment the door opened and Locke entered the room. Walking towards the others would have been the wrong phrasing - he actually staggered closer and nearly ran into Spectre's chair.

Sabre shot him a very worried look.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you are drunk."

Locke needed a while to find out where he was and where the others were sitting.

"I ... don't know. I feel like I haven't spent the night in my bed but rather in a twister."

"You should go back to bed and rest longer", Sabre said and immediately stood up. "Wait, I'll support you."

Thunderhawk lifted up his hands.

"Oh great, now another one is ill. Why don't we use our Chaos force to teleport us out of here and back to Haven immediately?"

"Because it doesn't work", Spectre answered. "Tonight I tried it in the hope to get something from our home that could help Sojourner and it didn't work. And you know my strength. I didn't like that part of the Ice Cap Zone from the beginning. The snow is just blocking our doors but the ruins Haven on Ice is standing on are blocking our abilities. Or why do you think Sojourner had such problems healing himself? And walking or using the snowmobiles back is out of questions because while we two and Sabre would make it out of this white hell alive what shall we do with the weakened others? The teleporter to Knothole I don't want to use until it's nearly too late. It's not that I don't trust the people there but I doubt they will have more possibility to help us than Haven on Ice can offer. Besides I have the feeling they won't be too happy to see us since we denied our help when their princess asked us... Sabre will check Locke. Let's just hope for the best."

Analysing Locke's blood sample was a pretty confusing business. It was quite a miracle that his self-experiments didn't cause him to visibly mutate and only changed invisible things - like his genetical code. Nevertheless Sabre found something suspicious - the same anomalies Sojourner's and Nougat's samples showed as well. For Sabre that only meant one thing: The diseases had started after they had contact with Nougat for the first time so she carried the virus inside but the same time she also seemed to be immune against it. Sabre rubbed his temples. His head felt as if Robotnik had stomped in through one ear and out of the other.

'It's the lack of sleep. I can't concentrate anymore.'

He quickly wrote down a few notes on a piece of paper and left the laboratory.

Nougat had already left the sick bay and wandered around the building aimlessly until she met Spectre. The dark Guardian showed one of his rare light smiles.

"Feeling better again? I heard that you have healed Sojourner and wanted to thank you ... in the name of all of us."

Shyly Nougat lowered her gaze.

"But I also wanted to tell you that we can't allow you to heal another one of us. It weakens you too much. I ... We don't want to lose you." He paused shortly then continued speaking. "Sabre and Locke found out that you are carrying some kind of virus inside of you that seems to be no danger for you but the disease has already broken out among us. Locke already had it in the morning and Sabre now also seems to be hit by it." When he saw her gaze he quickly added, "Stay away from them, please. We will find another cure."

In the late afternoon Sojourner didn't want to stay in bed any longer even if Thunderhawk didn't fully trust in his rapid health recovery and had tried to shoo him back to bed. He felt better now so why should Spectre and Thunderhawk do everything on their own?

Spectre watched over the two ill Guardians. They still were in a better condition than Sojourner a while ago but their fever rose fast.

Thunderhawk tried to find an antidote but he barely made any progress, mostly because he kept nodding off. Although he had been without sleep for nearly two days he refused to rest before he hadn't found a way to help the other Guardians.

In the meantime Sojourner decided to repair the screens in the control room which had only showed a visual noise since the day they had entered Haven on Ice - but maybe they weren't even damaged or without a signal and only showed the weather outside the whole time. Anyways, they should be able to get in contact with the world outside in the case of emergency and since their teleporter led to Knothole Sojourner wanted to contact them first, no matter what Spectre thought about it. Maybe if he could talk to Tails or Rotor they might even be able to help them reprogram the teleporter so it would send them somewhere else on Angel Island and not down to Mobius Prime anymore.

Thunderhawk's tiredness seemed to be contagious. Spectre had his troubles to even walk straight when he was on his way to Sojourner to see if he had been able to repair the old screens. Or was it even still tiredness? The dark Echidna wasn't too sure anymore.

Suddenly the floor seemed to spin around and his stomach did the same. His legs became heavier and heavier. He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. Bright spots danced in his vision and he fought to stay conscious.

"Spectre!"

He needed a few seconds to even become conscious to the call and to realize it had been Nougat's voice.

"Get ... Sojourner ... or..."

But before he could finish his sentence everything went black.

Night had fallen in when Sojourner finally had been able to get all systems up and running. Locke was the tech wiz of the team not him but at least everything worked now. At this time of night he couldn't reach anyone in Knothole but he simply let the dial-up run in loops. Sooner or later he would be successful.

For now he needed to get to the sick bay to keep watch there so Thunderhawk could finally get a few hours of sleep.

Locke's and Sabre's state could best be described as stable. Their temperature was still high and they had been in that feverish coma for a day but at least it hadn't become worse. Spectre's condition was still uncertain. A few times he had forced himself to wake up again but the higher his fever rose the rarer the waking states became.

Sojourner sat on one of the beds wrapped up in thoughts. What if someone from Knothole answered his call? Would he be able to hear it? Maybe he should go back to the surveillance room and check. He winced when he heard the door behind him being opened but calmed down again when he saw Nougat had entered the room.

"Oh, it's just you."

The female went over and sat down beside him.

"Ah, I think I know what you want. No chance. I have an eye on these three and also won't leave the room. Believe me, there will be another way to heal them. We are worried about your well-being as well."

She only looked at him silently.

"I know, you aren't much of a talker but it's still good to have a bit of company. Oh yeah, I didn't even have a chance yet to thank you. If it hadn't been for you then I might not be alive anymore."

Nougat lightly smiled at him and placed a hand on Sojourner's cheek. He suddenly felt incredible tired. Slowly he sank down onto the bed.

Thunderhawk wandered through the corridors. Despite his exhaustion he could always only sleep for a few minutes and then woke with a start. Now after he couldn't find sleep anymore at all he thought it was better to get up and check if everything was alright in the sick bay.

When he entered the room his gaze first fell on the sleeping Sojourner, then on Nougat who lay motionless beside Spectre's bed.

"No..."

He jolted Sojourner awake.

"Damn, I thought you wanted to have an eye on them."

"I had", Sojourner tried to defend himself, "But she somehow managed to put me asleep."

Carefully Thunderhawk carried Nougat to one of the free beds.

"How many was she able to heal?"

"Compared to my last measurement Sabre's and Locke's temperature has sunken, Spectre's has risen. It seems she wasn't able to heal him anymore..."

As the night progressed Sabre and Locke had regained consciousness and didn't want to stay in bed any longer. Spectre on the other hand started showing the same symptoms as Sojourner during his course of disease. He was dripping with sweat, flinched if someone came too close, his fingers dug into the bed sheets and he seemed to suffer great pain. Still he fought not to lose consciousness again.

Nougat had woken up as well but she was noticeably growing weaker.

Spectre turned his head and weakly smiled at her.

"Don't ... worry. Sojourner will be able to reach ... someone. Anyone will be able to ... get us out of here and help us. I'm sure. But we have to hang on... Please, don't give up."

Nougat tried to smile as well but only the corners of her mouth twitched a bit.

A sound coming from the surveillance room rang through the building. Locke jumped up.

"Incoming call! That must be Knothole!" He ran out of the room.

For a while everything was silent again. Suddenly Nougat tried to sit up. She looked at Spectre, a mix of fright and sadness in her eyes.

"Sorry..." Her voice was but a mere whisper. Then she sunk back again.

The other Guardians had immediately rushed to her bed but no matter what they tried they couldn't get Nougat back to life.

Spectre couldn't do anything else but watch them.

"Nougat..."

He closed his eyes and turned his head to the other side.

The four remaining Guardians were sitting on the floor or leaning against the walls outside of the sick bay, heads lowered. Spectre had wanted to be alone.

The project was cancelled. The ruins of the Ice Cap Zone should stay like they had been buried by the snow thousands of years ago. They also wanted to bring Nougat back there - where all her family and friends were.

After half an eternity Thunderhawk broke the silence.

"Locke? What did the one you had on the screen tell you?"

"I talked to Rotor. He meant the Chaos rings had healing ability too, different from the force of the Master Emerald that we use so if we already couldn't heal on our own the usual way that additional different form of energy might be helpful. According to him they only need to implant a little piece of a ring into Spectre's body and it can be removed once he's feeling better again. All the tests they ran in the past had been successful. We should accept that offer and send him through the teleporter."

Slowly the others nodded. How much other choice did they have?

Thunderhawk stood beside Spectre's bed. He had told him about Rotor's offer although he wasn't quite sure if Spectre had even heard him or sunken back into his feverish nightmares.

"If you can't hear me anymore then we have to take your silence as an agreement."

Spectre kept his eyes shut but his lips lightly moved.

"Thunderhawk?" he asked with weak voice? "So that means I have to go under the knife of these backwoodsmen?"

"Well ... yes, that's what it means ... actually ..."

"Over my dead body..."

"But ... you could die if we don't do it. This part also won't stay for long in your body, if you don't want it..."

Spectre shortly opened his eyes.

"I thought you knew me better after all these years... That should have been a Yes."

Thunderhawk grinned.

"I'm sorry."

The dark Guardian closed his eyes.

"And never say that phrase again."

Rotor had arrived through the teleporter and Sojourner and Thunderhawk trundled Spectre's bed into the room.

"I hope you can move it on your own back through the teleporter", Sojourner said. "We still have some business to do in the ruins and will follow you later on."

Rotor shook his head. "No problem. The surgery will need a while anyways and it's enough if you come by when he's awake again."

He nodded the Guardians goodbye then disappeared together with the unconscious Spectre through the teleporter.


	2. Abyss

Chapter 2: Abyss

Slowly Spectre opened his eyes. His head felt as if a whole stampede of Robotniks had run through it.

"Oh, our guest of honour has awoken."

The piercing coldness in this voice made even Spectre shiver a bit. Slowly he raised his head.

At some distance the white Echidna with the black cloak stood.

"I hope you slept well", he said and his lips curled into a mocking smile.

"You again..." Spectre snarled. He now noticed that a strange force held him chained to the wall.

"You're in my temporary base station, far away from where I 'picked you up' but still close enough to the Dark Legion", Finitevus explained unasked.

"How cute. And why am I here?"

"Because we found out that the Guardians sent you to Knothole so a part of a Chaos ring could be transplanted under your skin. Shortly after the surgery we attacked that nice little village. Now we want to know from you why you have that part in you. Does it give you more power? Are you on some kind of mission? Is it just a test?"

Spectre let out a bitter laugh.

"And that's why you keep me as your prisoner? Well, I can surely tell you. It's not a secret after all. I caught a rare virus and that thing was the last option to cure me. There's nothing more to say."

"A nice story, Guardian. I only wished I could believe you."

Spectre tried to unleash at least enough Chaos energy to break loose from the invisible chains but to no avail. Finitevus chuckled.

"I know what you are trying to do but put that right out of your mind. It's not just this one wall - most parts of the station work like a Chaos siphon. You only will have enough energy left to heal yourself and that's something you will have to use quite often if you don't tell us the information we need."

"I can't give you more information because I already told you the truth."

"In that case I think it was a good idea to bring one of the most loyal Legionnaires with me. I can't punish you myself since the Siphon also decreases my strength, even if the effect on me isn't as grave as on you. Xenin on the other hand is completely unaffected. Xenin..." he gave the cyborg who had silently appeared in the room and now stood next to him with crossed arms a nod, "show our guest how sharp your claws have become since your last improvement."

Spectre screamed out in pain when Xenin's claws slashed over his chest. Blood soaked his cloak and his dark fur.

Minutes that had seemed like years to Spectre later Xenin dragged the more dead than alive Guardian into another room, let him fall down in the centre of it, went out again and started typing on a control panel next to the doorframe.

"It would be better if you crawled to the wall furthest away from me, Guardian", he said.

"Why?" Spectre brought out between clenched teeth.

"That's why."

Xenin pushed the last button and Spectre crashed against said wall. It was as if the force of gravity had been changed inside that one room - the wall had turned into a floor and the floor into a wall now.

"Heal fast because in a few hours I will pick you up for another appointment with the doctor", Xenin said with a chuckle before he left.

The whole thing had been repeated over and over again, probably for days. Another time that Spectre couldn't tell more but the truth, was tortured, dragged back into his cell and Xenin thought it was funny to let him crash against the wall. Coiled up he was lying on the floor that previously had been a wall, waiting for his pain to disappear. He didn't know how long he was already going through this. Even if he had wanted to give up completely and succumb to his wounds - the remaining Chaos force inside of him wouldn't stop healing his body.

"Don't give up now."

Slowly Spectre opened his eyes. He knew this voice but ... it couldn't be possible. Slowly he turned his head and stared at the figure kneeling next to him - a brown furred Echidna in a green tunic.

"Isn't it enough that I'm nearly dying every time?" he murmured. "No, now I'm also going insane and seeing dead people."

"You aren't going insane", Tobor silently said. "I'm really here and the same time ... I'm not."

Now Spectre had set up. He still couldn't take his eyes off his father.

"But ... how? You have been killed in a fight? What else are you but dead?"

"How shall I explain? Dead Guardians don't just disappear into nothingness after their death. They move to another level of existence until they receive Aurora's final call. We can still watch over Mobius or even return in a certain way but we aren't allowed to interfere in anything. Do you know how many rules I'm already breaking just by showing myself and talking to you?"

"Then why did you show up now if you will get a lot of trouble afterwards?"

"Because maybe I can find a way to help you escape."

Steps were heard outside of the room. Tobor looked up and slowly disappeared. Spectre reached out a hand.

"No, wait! Don't leave me now!"

Gravitation turned back to normal and Spectre fell against the floor that previously had been a wall to him.

"Stop talking to yourself, Guardian, and come with me", Xenin said. "The doctor doesn't like to wait."

Minutes later Spectre was thrown back into his cell again. This time he even managed to drag himself close to the wall and lean against it before the gravity was turned. Xenin seemed to slowly lose interest in torturing him longer than necessary.

Tobor appeared again as soon as the cyborg left and gave his son a regretful look.

"Why haven't you helped me?" Spectre groaned and tried to get up.

"I already explained that I'm not allowed to do anything if I don't want to get into more trouble than I already am in. I can heal you, I can make up escape plans together with you but I can't show up in front of these Legionnaires or even attack them."

"So can you help me now?"

"Unless you want someone to guide you to the next level of existence or just a bit of company - no. I'm sorry but I don't have any ideas how you could escape without help from outside."

Spectre let out a desperate sigh. He didn't even have the strength to become furious left. His only hope now was that the other Guardians were searching for him. He turned his head when he felt Tobor's hand on his shoulder.

"Do you still want to stay although you can't do anything?" Spectre asked.

"If nothing else I want to give you at least a bit of company. Or do you want me to leave you alone?"

Slowly the dark Guardian shook his head. Though he didn't say it he was thankful for his father's presence.

After the other four Guardians had returned to Haven they had waited for a message about Spectre's condition and when they could see him. A message had arrived but a different one than expected.

Now Locke had been sitting in front of Haven's screens for days trying to locate where Spectre was.

"What should that be good for", Sojourner grumbled. "Even if they are Legionnaires they aren't so stupid to hide right in front of a surveillance camera from Haven."

"Oh, I'm sure Locke doesn't just use our own ways of observation", Sabre said with a little grin. "The thing Locke can't hack into hasn't been invented yet."

"And what if our little tech wiz was just lucking out each time before and now his stroke of luck is over?" Thunderhawk said.

"HA! I found them!" Locke exclaimed that very moment.

"He felt lucky, punk", Sojourner said to Thunderhawk a big grin on his face.

"How do you know you found anything?" Sabre asked. "To me that just looks like a model of rooms with strange colour schemes in some of them."

"I'm 'watching' through the Legion's surveillance system - in there they seem to use that type that doesn't show pictures but rather measure the area and give alarm when they pick up certain signals. These two colour schemes indicate the Chaos force but one of them is much weaker than the other. I guess Finitevus is the stronger one now and has his ways to drain Spectre's energy. One other Echidna is with them, probably a Legionnaire. But there's also another signal... It's just appearing once in a while as if it's there but not there the same time and it seems to carry the Chaos force inside as well."

"That stupid thing is broken", Thunderhawk meant.

"Maybe it's Athair?" Sabre asked. "What if he found out about Spectre's location as well and is now in the same building trying to find an escape for Spectre? Athair is a Guardian too even if not official anymore."

"It's possible", Locke said thoughtfully. "But then Athair has to teleport in and out again really quickly. Whatever it is, we can find out about it later on. For now I can only try to jam that whole system to give Spectre the escape route the unknown visitor couldn't find yet."

Spectre and Tobor had said nothing to each other for quite a while but now Tobor started speaking again.

"I have the feeling something is about to happen soon. It might be better you lean against the wall if you don't want to be hurt."

"Why? I can't hear anyone coming to get me."

"Just trust me."

Though he didn't know what happening to expect when no one was near the room he did what Tobor suggested. The room spinned around another time and the wall became the floor again. A wonderful feeling rushed through Spectre's body. The Siphon had stopped working and now his powers were returning. The dark Echidna stood up a ferocious expression on his face.

"Now that everything is back to normal I know someone who has to pay dearly what they did to me."

"Who knows how long the Siphon will be out of order? If I was you I would just find a way out of here and get my revenge later on when there's no energy stealing device around", Tobor said.

"What has even happened?"

"I don't know but I guess Locke played hacker and jammed the system. Now the rest is up to you." He smiled at Spectre. "Take care. I'm sure we will see each other again but until then I hope Aurora protects you."

With that he disappeared.

Spectre ran through the deserted corridors. From afar he saw Xenin. His whole body started glowing when he charged up with Chaos energy. The cyborg spun around.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going where I want to!"

Spectre launched a Chaos blaster against Xenin, with enough power to make him crash through the next few walls. The dark Guardian had put all his damned up hate into this one blast.

Finitevus was nowhere to be found. Obviously he had teleported to safety as usual. For now Spectre gave up searching for him. After taking a major part of his rage out on Xenin he felt his exhaustion hitting him again. He only wanted to return home.

Spectre was lying on his bed in his room in Haven. Thank goodness the others had hold back with their questions and first let him time to rest before asking him about the things that had happened in Finitevus' base.

The dark Echidna kept his eyes closed but his senses told him he wasn't alone in his room anymore.

"I'm about twice as old as the oldest non-Guardian Echidna ever got. Do you really think my father still needs to watch every step I take?" he asked and a smile appeared on his face.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to you", Tobor said. "Though I hope it's not forever. Maybe I will return, maybe not. Time will tell."

"I also hope to see you again sooner or later", Spectre said and opened his eyes to look at him. "Hey, tomorrow it's Ascension Day and there will probably be some kind of festivity in Echidnaopolis again. The Guardians always had been guests of honour. What about you?"

Tobor chuckled silently. "No, I think I'm already too old for the bigger festivals. Besides I doubt the people will be too happy if they see a ghost wandering through the streets."

With a last goodbye he disappeared - maybe for longer this time.

Should he tell the other Guardians who really had paid him a visit in his cell? He shoved that thought aside for now. That decision still could wait.

Spectre crossed his arms behind his back and closed his eyes.


End file.
